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Show (off) and tell with these five fun apps

Show (off) and tell with these five fun apps

Smartphones? Everyone has one. But use one of these apps, and you can assert your superior intelligence and wit. None of these will make the DSEs any easier, but what's wrong with a little distraction?

GarageBand

Everyone should have this app. Where else do you get to try out a vintage-sounding synth? Apple's GarageBand turns your device into a recording studio. You can play around with unconventional instruments, funky beats and song arrangements. Fun, brilliant, and well worth the price.

Available: iOS - HK$38 (Free with fewer instruments)

SoundHound

Shazam is great, but it doesn't identify songs when they're hummed or sung. Sometimes you have a song in your head that you can't place, or need to know what that catchy song in a shop is. SoundHound takes a sample of the tune - whether it's the actual recorded track or you humming the melody - and tries to match it to a title in the app's massive database. That is, unless you're a really, really bad singer.

Available: iOS - HK$53, Android - Free

Face Melter

Old, but still so good. Everyone loves the iOS Photo Booth app, but Face Melter takes things to a whole new level. Create an infinite number of funny facial expressions out of pictures of your family and friends. Flip a frown into a grin, magnify eyes or give someone a wiggly nose. Pretty quickly you'll see why this is one of the most popular apps in the world.

Metal Detector

Did you know your phone has a magnetic field that allows it to sense the presence of metal? This app has a simple and realistic interface, and (importantly) actually works to find magnetic metals, like steel or iron. It could also be used to find that "lucky" coin your aunt always hides in the dumplings during Lunar New Year. See? Saved your life.

Available: Android/iOS - Free

iSeismometer

This is a cool, novelty app to be used at a party or during lunch break. It shows off just how sensitive your phone's accelerometer is. It lets you measure everything that vibrates, shakes or moves, and uses the information to draw the results on a graph. It's fun and educational, and makes you look like a scientist in front of friends. Or pretend it's a lie-detector machine and see who confesses …